November 25, 2013

Tell, Show, Do...

A player needs to be taught in the simplest terms not
because they are incapable of grasping complicated concepts but because they
have no time for it, they’d rather be playing the game!We must use Tell, Show, Do… to teach the
player appropriately very quickly!In
case you don’t know the method, it goes something like this, first you Tell
them, then you Show them, and finally you let them Do!!!

Most of us were subjected to this early in life because it
is a perfect way to teach a 5 year old in kindergarden.You might think I am comparing player's to
kindergardeners and well you would be right but it's really only in terms of
attention span.We have to capture the
imagination of the player so this is a good way to do it and teach while
building up to a moment of fun, when we let the player "Do" the
action we have built up!

Here are a few great examples of this in games that I love
:)

Ratchet and Clank:

The new game uses short cute animated spots to inform the
player of the new weapon they have just spent their hard earned bolts on.Player also has the option to preview before
purchase!

When the video is over and the player exits the store the
new weapon is already in hand, armed and ready to dispatch any foes in
sight.The best part is the player
already knows how to wield the weapon from the "advertising video" so
it eliminates almost all trial and error.Not only is the weapon now intuitive but it also has set the player
expectations which will be fulfilled when the weapon is fired.This is much better than the player inferring
something from the title of the gun and then it not living up to the
expectations the player has created in their mind.

BioShock:

Here we have a montage of the plasmid tutorial videos from
Ryan Industries!

Oddly enough this technique seems to dominate the dentist
world which makes a lot of sense after you think about it.
"Trust" is the key to doctor / patient relationship and must be
established otherwise there are going to be a lot of tears during a simply
teeth cleaning.Teaching players about
mechanics should be handled the same way, build "Trust" by being
honest with the player about how things are going to work so they are not dying
all the time.

So be honest with the player and when you can try to Tell,
Show, Do!!!

1 comment:

Great post. I'm fascinated with ways to teach players to play games without taking them out of gameplay for too long. It's interesting that both of these examples use a different art style for the presentation of abilities...it leaves a little to the imagination of the player, and then fulfills that by immediately letting them use it. I think it would ruin the discovery moment to simply show the actual in game footage of the ability being used. It would also deprive the player of some humor / story opportunity, which for me is what made the plasmids more appealing.